Tillbaka på Darlana Hästen (Back on the Dala Horse)

Well its been a few months since my last post. Finally got around to correcting the grammar and spelling in my previous post, my I must have been in a hizzy when i wrote it originally.

What I've said in my previous post regarding the Swedish employment process holds true, I continue on my quest to find employment however something worth noting is that I am fortunate in that I am a Canadian through and through even if my name might suggest otherwise, I have found that following up with a CV submission with a phone call to inform the employer about this fact has had some limited success. At this point, I'm still not where I want to be in terms of City of employment however I do have some possibilities in finding employment.

Right at this time there is also a global financial crisis and several companies in Sweden are cutting back on their expansion plans making a job hunt for anyone harder. I'm about to make a bold statement about working in Sweden:
EMPLOYERS IN SWEDEN ARE AFRAID OF EMPLOYEES
ARBETSGIVARE I SVERIGE ÄR RÄDDA AV ANSTÄLLDA

Surely, this sounds insane, shouldn't this be the other way around? Employees are afraid of their employer? Its the employer that controls if they keep their employees or? Well not in Sweden. This country has developed a very powerful social infrasture and along with that Unions have always been looked favorably on. Unions have grown very powerful, in fact if you are working in a professional field here your employer is more then likely to be in partnership with their respective Union and their corresponding rules and regulations.

On the surface this surely sounds like a good thing, more protection for employees, more job security, better collective negotiating power. If one digs a little deeper however, you will find something smelling afoul underneath this bed of roses.

You see, because the Unions have so much power here, employers fight an uphill battle:
Sure if they hire an employee and the employee is good, works well with others, etc, all is good. However if the employee is found to not fit within the company, the organisation now has a problem. Unless the employee does something drastic in terms of stealing from the company, or killing someone then there is no way to remove this employee. Worker has a bad attitude? Doesn't get along with others? Low quality of work? Sick all the time? Alcoholic or Drug user? Too bad, as the employer you are responsible to train that employee, and to help them to fit in, remember, when you employed them for their position you should have been psychic and been able to predict exactly how well this employee would work out in the organization, or did the psychic on your staff call in sick that day as well?

Most employers here work on a 'prova anställning' principle which gives the employer a 6 month probationary period where they can see if the employee works out, however this is ridiculous as most professional positions require months just to get integrated within the company. What ends up happening is most employers will cycle through employees, never offering fast anställning (permanent employment contract), because at that point the company is now liable for you.

Its ironic that if you are not a citizen of Sweden or a member of the EU and require a residence permit here in Sweden, the employer would have to offer you a tillvidare anställning (till future employment) right off the bat. This is the only way that a Non-EU resident can get a permit to stay. Of course, with that the employer also has to generally show to Arbetsformedling that they were not able to find someone with your qualifications first within Sweden, and then within the EU. That doesn't at all sound ridiculous does it now? How fair is this for the Swedes that are forced to work on a temporary basis hoping that they are able to get a permanent position?

A MAJOR FAILING OF THE EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE HERE IN SWEDEN!